UC Irvine (4-2) at
USC (4-2)
Date: Thursday, Dec. 2
Time: 7 p.m. (PST)
Location: Galen Center (10,258) - Los Angeles, Calif.
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UC Irvine Game Notes // USC Game Notes

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine kicks off the month of December with a tough road test as it makes the short trip to Los Angeles for a Thursday (Dec. 2) showdown with Pac-12 member USC. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Galen Center.
 
STORYLINES
• UC Irvine defeated Illinois State and Sacramento State at its own UCI Thanksgiving Classic last weekend.
• In the tournament opener, the Anteaters turned a 12-point halftime deficit into a 12-point win (67-55) over the Redbirds.
• They outscored the 'Birds 43-19 over the final 20 minutes.
• Tara Dusharm led the way against ISU with all of her season-high 14 points coming in the second half.
• Over the course of the two games, she went 7-for-13 (54%) from the field and 9-of-10 at the free throw line.
• Kayla Williams also had 15 points, five assists and a season-high tying four steals against Illinois State.
• Both Williams and Dusharm were named to the all-tournament team.
• Williams has reached double figures in scoring in each of the last four outings, and in 23 of 29 career games played.
• The 'Eaters rank 35th in all of NCAA Division I in scoring offense (78.0 ppg).
• UCI has scored 80+ points three times, including a program-record 114 in a season-opening win over NAIA member Westcliff.
• As of Nov. 29, UC Irvine was also 20th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) and 32nd in turnover margin (6.2).
• The Anteaters have forced 16+ turnovers in five of their six contests (18.7/gm), and 20+ in three of the last five. 
• UC Irvine has used the same starters in all six games.
• Sophia Locandro has made the most career starts (49).
• The team is also 17-6 when Chloe Webb is in the starting rotation.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
USC (4-2) split two games at the Cancun Challenge last weekend, defeating Seton Hall, 79-65, before falling to UCF, 56-47. Former Anteater Jordan Sanders leads the Trojans with 12.3 points per outing. Sanders played at UCI from 2017-19, and graduated in 2020 before transferring to USC. Alissa Pili is also averaging 10.3 ppg, while Rayah Marshall has registered a team-best 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per contest. Lindsay Gottlieb is in her first year at the helm of the USC women's basketball program. Gottlieb previously served as head coach at Cal and UC Santa Barbara, while she was most recently an assistant coach in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
 
SERIES RECORD
UC Irvine and USC have met only twice in the history of the two programs. The Trojans won both contests, defeating the 'Eaters in 2015 and 2016.
 
AGAINST THE PAC-12
The Anteaters are 5-42 all-time against Pac-12 schools with their last win coming against Oregon State in 1999. UCI has gone up against the Pac-12 four times in head coach Tamara Inoue's tenure (since 2016-17).
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine defeated Sacramento State, 58-51, on Sunday, Nov. 28, to close out a 2-0 weekend at its own UCI Thanksgiving Classic. Naomi Hunt led the 'Eaters with her first double-double of the year as she had a season-high 17 points and a career-best 12 rebounds. Hunt went 6-for-12 from the field with three triples. Kayla Williams added 10 points, four assists and two steals, while Tara Dusharm also had nine points and two boards. Dusharm and Williams (MVP) were both named to the all-tournament team.
 
RECEIVING VOTES
UC Irvine was once again receiving votes in the latest College Insider Women's Mid-Major Poll (Nov. 23). The Anteaters were last featured in the mid-major rankings in 2018-19 when they rose to as high as No. 15 in the nation.
 
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
UC Irvine was picked to finish second in the Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll. The 'Eaters (88 points) received one first-place vote from the league's 11 head coaches to come in behind five-time defending regular-season champion UC Davis, which was tabbed the preseason favorite with nine first-place votes and 99 total points. This is the fourth year in a row the Anteaters were selected among the top-three in the Big West Preseason Poll.
 
Third-year freshman Kayla Williams was selected to the six-member Preseason All-Big West Team. Last year, Williams was named the Big West Freshman of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors after averaging 14.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game.
 
HOME & AWAY
After playing five of their six games in the month of November within the friendly confines of the Bren Events Center, the 'Eaters will now hit the road for four of their final five non-conference contests. UCI is 4-1 at home, and 0-1 on the road this year. Since 2017-18, UC Irvine is 40-17 (.702) at the Bren Events Center. The 40 home victories in four-plus seasons are more than the combined total from the previous six campaigns (2011-17).
 
WINNING WAYS
Tamara Inoue was named the 2021 Big West co-Coach of the Year. She is the second coach in program history to earn the award, joining Colleen Matsuhara (1995) in elite company. In just five-plus seasons, including last year's shortened campaign, Inoue is UCI women's basketball's third-winningest head coach (75). She is 11 victories away from tying Mark Adams (86) for second.
 
THE TURNAROUND
Prior to Inoue's arrival in 2016-17, UC Irvine had just two winning seasons in 15 years. But, ever since Inoue's first campaign with her own recruits in 2017-18, the 'Eaters have been on the rise. That 2017-18 squad put together the second-best turnaround in all of NCAA Division I as they posted 18 wins after finishing with just five in 2016-17. The following year, the Anteaters notched the program's first 20-win season since 1985. In 2020-21, they also advanced to the Big West championship game for the first time in 24 years. UCI has placed among the top-three in the conference standings three times under Inoue.
 
DEEP IMPACT
UC Irvine has shown its depth early in the season, with nearly half of its points coming off the bench. Through the first six games, the Anteaters have a lopsided 202-65 advantage in bench points. All 15 players have made their way into the scoring column, nine have at least one double-figure scoring game, and eight are averaging at least 4.0 points per outing.
 
HELPING HAND
UCI ranks among the top-50 in the country with 16.2 assists per game (47th) and a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio (20th). Kayla Williams is tops on the squad with 25 helpers, while Nikki Tom is second with 18.
 
DOUBLE DUTY
Three different 'Eaters have a double-double on the young season. Melodie Kapinga had the first of the year with 11 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in 13 minutes against Westcliff (Nov. 9). Chloe Webb followed with 14 points and 13 boards for her sixth career double-double in a win over Southern Utah on Nov. 11, while Naomi Hunt recently had 17 points and 12 rebounds vs. Sacramento State (Nov. 28).
 
TURNOVER TALK
The Anteaters have forced 16+ turnovers in five of six contests (18.7/gm), with a season-high 24 at California Baptist on Nov. 20. Since 2016-17, they have forced 18.0 turnovers per game and have consistently been one of the top teams in the Big West in that category.
 
IRON WOMEN
Sophia Locandro and Jayde Cadee are tied for the team lead with 61 consecutive games played. The two Australians have not missed a contest since their arrival at UCI in 2019-20. Locandro, a 6-foot-3 forward, is the team's active career leader in points (639), rebounds (310) and blocks (67). Cadee is tops on the squad with 103 career 3-pointers made. As a freshman, she knocked down a team-leading 59 triples, which ranks fifth in single-season school history. The 5-foot-10 guard, who has 24 career games with multiple threes made, also tied a single-game program record with eight 3-pointers at Long Beach State on Feb. 20, 2020.
 
RECORD WATCH
With nine blocks this season, Sophia Locandro has increased her career total to 67, which puts her in sole possession of 10th all-time at UC Irvine. Jayde Cadee is also on the verge of breaking into UCI's all-time top-10 in 3-pointers made with her 103 career triples sitting four behind 2020 graduate Lauren Saiki (107).
 
SCORING MACHINE
Kayla Williams has reached double figures in scoring in 23 of 29 career games played with six 20+ point performances. She has increased her season average to 12.0 ppg after scoring 10+ in each of the last four outings, including a season-high 20 at California Baptist. Williams also has a streak of 20 consecutive games played with at least one 3-pointer made. She owns a career high of 32 points which she established at Cal Poly on Jan. 23, 2021. 
 
OPENING NIGHT
For the seventh-straight year, the Anteaters started the campaign at home, and won their fourth opener in the last five seasons with a 114-53 victory over Westcliff on Nov. 9. Their 114 points were a program record, breaking the previous mark of 107, which was set back in 1979 and matched in 2018. Of the five 100-point games in school history, four have come in the Tamara Inoue era. The 'Eaters also tied a 39-year old school record with 30 assists (on 43 made field goals) against the Warriors.
 
BACK TO WORK
Despite losing five seniors to graduation, UC Irvine welcomes back eight letterwinners, including its top-three scorers from a year ago in Kayla Williams (14.4 ppg), Chloe Webb (12.2 ppg) and Sophia Locandro (10.1 ppg). Williams was named the 2021 Big West Freshman of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors, while Webb received an honorable mention nod.
 
JOINING THE CREW
The Anteaters bring in a group of seven newcomers in 2021-22. UCI has five true freshmen - Hunter Hernandez, Déja Lee, Amelia Scharpf, Nikki Tom and Olivia Williams - while adding some experience with grad transfers Tara Dusharm (Pepperdine) and Naomi Hunt (Long Beach State).
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
UC Irvine has three international student-athletes in Jayde Cadee, Sophia Locandro and Déja Lee. Lee, a freshman from Surrey, British Columbia, was one of the top-ranked 2021 prospects in Canada. She competed with the Canadian National Team at the 2021 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup (5th) and the 2019 FIBA U16 Americas Championship (2nd). Cadee and Locandro both hail from Melbourne, Australia, where they won national titles with the Victoria Metro State team. In addition, freshman Olivia Williams, who has dual citizenship, has competed with the New Zealand National Team, winning silver at the 2019 FIBA U17 Women's Oceania Championship.
 
EMPOWERED WOMEN EMPOWER WOMEN
UCI women's basketball has an all-female staff with head coach Tamara Inoue, associate head coach Cecilia Russell-Nava, assistants Jualeah Woods and Cinnamon Lister, and Director of Operations Tyler Ellis. All five played Division I basketball and have made it to the NCAA Tournament as a player and/or coach. In addition, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, a three-time Olympian and two-time silver medalist with the U.S. Women's Indoor Volleyball Team, is in her fourth year as the program's Director of Administration.

UP NEXT
UC Irvine is back in action next Saturday, Dec. 11, hosting San Diego in its only home game in the month of December. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.